If you’re an Angeleno longing for even more baseball, Long Beach hopes to have you covered.
Long Beach’s mayor, Rex Richardson, and its City Council last week pushed through a resolution to bring a professional baseball team to the city, with the goal of first pitch being next year. The resolution calls for the city to collaborate with California State University Long Beach to make official the Long Beach Baseball Club, which would play at Blair Field.
“This is more than just baseball – it’s about building a legacy,” Richardson said in a statement. “We’re creating a new chapter in Long Beach’s story, one that brings people together, fuels our local economy, and inspires future generations. A team in Long Beach is a chance to show what makes Long Beach great: our diversity, our passion and our community spirit.”
The initiative would add the new Long Beach team to the Pioneer Baseball League, an independent league formed in 1939 with 12 teams in California, Montana, Idaho, Colorado and Utah. The formation of the new team is backed by Innovation Baseball Partners, according to the city.
Long Beach officials tout the move as being among the latest to make the second largest city in Los Angeles County a destination. Several events of the 2028 Olympics will be hosted there and its existing tourism infrastructure brought in $2 billion in tourism revenue this past fiscal year, the city said.
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Speaking of the Olympics, the LA28 committee last week named Peter Rice as head of ceremonies and content for the games.
In the role, Rice will orchestrate the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2028 games at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and the 2028 Stadium. Rice was president of 21st Century Fox during its acquisition by The Walt Disney Co. and now serves as chairman of both television and general entertainment for Disney.
“Los Angeles stands as a global beacon of entertainment, culture and diversity, and I’m incredibly honored to embark on this next chapter,” Rice said in a statement. “These venues have hosted some of the most legendary moments in sports history, and I’m thrilled to deliver a powerful artistic experience that adds a new chapter to L.A.’s Olympic and Paralympic story.”
